Hardware control mechanisms, including but not limited to control knobs and control buttons, are routinely used as input mechanisms for providing input data to different types of systems and to enable user interaction with systems. Moving hardware controls typically provide valuable tactile feedback to a user of the system. When a user wishes to provide an input to a system, the user typically manipulates the position of the associated hardware control mechanism to provide a desired input to the system. For example, a user may rotate a control knob to provide a desire input. In another example, a hardware control mechanism may include a plurality of slider controls where each individual slider control is associated with a different input and a user selectively slides the control of a respective slider control to provide input data to the system.
As system complexities and capabilities increase, mechanisms for providing complex visual feedback at or near the control mechanism may be desirable. Examples of such visual feedback mechanisms include, but are not limited to, task icons, mode dependent menus or level controls and animated graphic schematics of the system operation affected by the control mechanism.